Bootstrapping a Five-Loop Amplitude Using Steinmann Relations.

The analytic structure of scattering amplitudes is restricted by Steinmann relations, which enforce the vanishing of certain discontinuities of discontinuities. We show that these relations dramatically simplify the function space for the hexagon function bootstrap in planar maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. Armed with this simplification, along with the constraints of dual conformal symmetry and Regge exponentiation, we obtain the complete five-loop six-particle amplitude.

New Representations of the Perturbative S Matrix.

We propose a new framework to represent the perturbative S matrix which is well defined for all quantum field theories of massless particles, constructed from tree-level amplitudes and integrable term by term. This representation is derived from the Feynman expansion through a series of partial fraction identities, discarding terms that vanish upon integration. Loop integrands are expressed in terms of "Q-cuts" that involve both off-shell and on-shell loop momenta, defined with a precise contour prescription that can be evaluated by ordinary methods.

Solvable relativistic hydrogenlike system in supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory.

The classical Kepler problem, as well as its quantum mechanical version, the hydrogen atom, enjoys a well-known hidden symmetry, the conservation of the Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector, which makes these problems superintegrable. Is there a relativistic quantum field theory extension that preserves this symmetry? In this Letter we show that the answer is positive: in the nonrelativistic limit, we identify the dual conformal symmetry of planar N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory with the well-known symmetries of the hydrogen atom. We point out that the dual conformal symmetry offers a novel way to compute the spectrum of bound states of massive W bosons in the theory.

Heavy quark diffusion in perturbative QCD at next-to-leading order.

We compute the momentum diffusion coefficient of a heavy quark in a hot QCD plasma, to next-to-leading order in the weak-coupling expansion. Corrections arise at [see formula]; physically they represent interference between overlapping scatterings, as well as soft, electric scale (p approximately gT) gauge field physics, which we treat using the hard thermal loop effective theory. In 3-color, 3-flavor QCD, the momentum diffusion constant of a fundamental representation heavy quark at next-to-leading order is kappa = 16pi/3alpha(s)(2)T(3)(ln1/g(s)+0.